The Hyena at the Back of the Pack
by Dala1
Summary: Chapter Three, "Chicken Soup and Coco Chanel": They eat. Rory tries to avoid disaster when the phone rings. Jess tries to distract her, and eventually succeeds.
1. The Hyena at the Back of the Pack

Title: The Hyena at the Back of the Pack  
Author: Dala  
Rating: PG-13   
Pairing: Rory/Jess  
Archive: Ask me if you'd like it  
Setting:Post-"They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?", otherwise known as the Dance Marathon; specifically, the Monday morning after  
Feedback: Please? This is my first (and probably only) "Gilmore Girls" fic, so I'm really needy  
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of this fanfic belong to the creators and the WB, yadda yadda, I make no profits, etc.  
  
Rory was dreaming about having a game of croquet with Carl Sandburg when the phone rang. Diving under the pillows, she wished it a thousand curses and waited for somebody -- Lorelai, one of Babette's gnomes, the Pope, *anyone* -- to pick it up. There was a distinct bang, no doubt her mother dropping something heavy in the kitchen, before the phone was cut off mid-ring. She breathed a sigh of relief into her pillow and started to drift off back to sleep, trying to find the same dream. It had been full of imagery and she suspected that the balls might soon turn into hedgehogs, which was always fun.  
  
Thus she was a bit disappointed when Lorelai shook her shoulder gently. "For you, Blue."  
  
"Nghhhh," Rory said.  
  
Lorelai, correctly interpreting this to mean "It's too early and I feel like barfing," said softly, "I think you want to take this call."  
  
Rory finally poked her head out and blinked up at her mother. "Who 's it?" she croaked, rubbing her throat. If it was Lane, the drum set was a goner.  
  
Lorelai said nothing, only held out the silent phone. Rory blinked and looked closer at her face. Uh-oh. Definitely like one of the Unhappy Faces, and it bore a strong resemblance to the Jess and My Daughter Face.  
  
Sighing, Rory groped for the phone and muttered, "Hello."  
  
"Morning."  
  
She groaned. "Jess, this is the kind of hour they call 'unGodly'."  
  
"Aren't we a little packet of sunshine? Besides, you're supposed to be getting ready for school right now."  
  
She would not be surprised if he'd memorized her entire schedule. Because it was Jess, this failed to creep her out; normally it would have given her a guilty thrill, but she hadn't the energy for that at the moment. "I'm sick."  
  
Jess shifted the phone from one ear to the other, feeling a little bad about waking her. Luke glanced up from frying eggs to fix Jess with an exasperated look. Of course he'd had the bad judgment to use the diner phone. He turned his back to his uncle.   
  
"Yeah, I can hear that. You've got a whole Lauren Bacall thing going." Jess paused for effect before adding a deadpan, "Sexy."  
  
Despite herself, Rory felt a grin twitch at the corners of her mouth. Lorelai, on the other hand, was not smiling, and she clearly refused to leave Rory alone with Jess's voice.   
  
"Listen, if you just called for the weird half-compliment thing, can we reschedule?"  
  
"Why? Is the anti-Christ recording this conversation in order to play it backwards at a later date?"  
  
"Jess." This time her voice was absolutely sincere. "That's not exactly the sort of comment that gets you brownie points with me." This reminded Rory of her own truncated Girl Scout career, but it obviously alarmed Lorelai a great deal, because she crossed and re-crossed her arms over her chest four times in a row.  
  
"Sorry," Jess said immediately. Now would just be the perfect time to fuck things up. "I was actually calling to see if you wanted to do something this afternoon, but I guess that's out."   
  
Behind him, Luke cleared his throat, tapped a prepared plate, and stabbed his finger in the direction of a waiting table. Jess mouthed an "okay already" before turning his attention back to Rory.  
  
"Jess," she said with a heavy sigh, secretly thinking how good it felt to say his name without all the mixed emotions and pain of the last few months, "I'd really like to go back to sleep now."  
  
"You're staying home?"  
  
"Yes," Rory said through gritted teeth. He may have been . . . special, was the word she would use, but that did not interfere with her ability to grump at him. "In my Loony Tunes pajamas, with a bottle of Robitussin next to my bed, since you're so interested."  
  
"Call you later, then?"   
  
That was *it*? No 'I hope you feel better,' no 'drink lots of fluids,' no 'aww, poor baby'?   
  
It suddenly occurred to Rory, for the umpteenth time since yesterday morning, that she and Jess had some definite talk-time coming up.  
  
"Sure," she said. Jess hung up and Rory relinquished the phone. She waited for the storm to break.  
  
"That was Jess," Lorelai said in a clipped tone.  
  
"Uh-huh," Rory replied, voice once again muffled by pillow.  
  
"Is he *aware* that you're sick, that you need your sleep?"  
  
"He wasn't, which is pretty much why I said 'I'm sick.' And Mom, *you're* keeping me from sleep right now."  
  
Lorelai began to pace, twisting the phone in her hands. "He *disturbed* your *rest*!"  
  
"How dare he," said Rory in a tone of mock indignation, abandoning her down tunnel long enough to roll her eyes. "I'm not exactly on my deathbed here."  
  
"But you could be!" Lorelai cried with an expansive arm motion. "What if you were deathly ill with scarlet fever or -- or syphilis -- "  
  
"Syphilis?" her daughter replied doubtfully.  
  
"Yes, syphilis," Lorelai repeated, "and plus, you're a massive insomniac and you've just spent six and a half hours trying to get to sleep, with your dear sweet mother's help of course -- I've given you warm milk and fluffed your pillows and sung you 'Swing low, sweet chariot'!"  
  
"Mom," Rory said calmly, "promise me that under no circumstances will you *ever* sing 'Swing low, sweet chariot' to me."  
  
Tripping over a stray boot did nothing to halt Lorelai's tirade. "This is serious, Rory! The boy has no regard for your feelings!"  
  
"I don't see why you're attacking me right now!" Rory exclaimed.  
  
"I'm not attacking!" Lorelai snapped. "If I were a hyena, I'd be that old sickly one in the back of the pack that's scared of its own smell and never attacks anything!"  
  
"A hyena. Right."  
  
Lorelai mercifully stopped pacing and plopped herself down in a chair, looking very put-out. "I could be a hyena."  
  
"Of course you could," said Rory soothingly, sitting up now. "Look, can we please get into the whole Jess thing later?" She coughed and Lorelai instantly dropped her anger.   
  
Reaching over to hug Rory, she said, "I'm sorry, hon. I really am. I shouldn't have blown up at you like that when you're sick."  
  
"And when I haven't done anything to deserve it," Rory added.  
  
Lorelai pulled back and looked at her searchingly. She pursed her lips. "But you *are* going to do something, aren't you?" she said softly. "You're going to start seeing Jess."  
  
Rory shrugged uncomfortably. It would take a lot of time and energy to get to the bottom of her feelings for Jess, and she wasn't sure that Lorelai would want to hear all of it. But the feelings, they were there, and they'd been there for a long time. She'd stopping hoping that they'd go away, and now that Dean had saved her the trouble of acting -- for which she was more ashamed than grateful -- she knew that she would have to explore those feelings.  
  
"Yes," Rory replied, looking her mother in the eye, "I'm going to start seeing Jess."  
  
Lorelai bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes for a moment. God, how much that frightened her. Rory was so different from Lorelai herself as a teenager, but how easy it would be to push her over the line, into rebellion, into making the sorts of choices that would affect the rest of her life. For the first time in their intensely close relationship, Lorelai would have to tread carefully because someone else was threatening to break the link. Dean was one thing. Lorelai was certain that Rory had genuinely loved him, and vice versa, but not even she could deny that the connection between Jess and Rory was different.  
  
And Lorelai was terrified of it.  
  
"Mom?" Rory's hesitant voice broke off her musings. Lorelai opened her eyes, smiling, and brushed Rory's hair back from her face.  
  
"Okay."  
  
Rory was understandably suspicious. Tilting her head to one side, she said warily, "Really?"  
  
Lorelai took a deep breath. "I . . . I'm trying to be okay with it, Rory. I'm trying really hard."  
  
Rory squeezed her hand. "I know you are, Mom. And I swear to you that whatever happens to Jess and me, you'll always know where we are, and I'll never sneak out of the house to see him, and we'll be . . . we'll be careful. About everything," she emphasized, remembering the car incident.  
  
*You don't understand how easy it would be to break those promises, sweetheart*, Lorelai thought sadly. *And it wouldn't be your fault alone.*  
  
Aloud she said, "Thank you for that. Can I get you anything before I leave? Coffee? A doughnut? World peace?"  
  
Rory settled back into her blankets with a smile. "No, no, and I'll be working on that someday."  
  
Lorelai paused at the doorframe, looking down at her sleepy child and feeling as though her heart would break for love. "I believe that, Rory. Call me at the Inn if you need anything." Rory murmured an assent.  
  
After a moment she burst back into the room. "Um, one more thing."  
  
Opening one eye, Rory said, "What?"  
  
"Can I get some of that yellow 'Caution' tape to put across your forehead? Or better yet, across Jess's forehead? With thumbtacks?"  
  
Rory waved a hand at her. "Knock yourself out."  
  
"'Kay. Bye. Love you!" Lorelai darted across the bedroom to plant a kiss on Rory's forehead before finally leaving the room. Rory listened to the front door shut and the car start up before nodding off again. She was awakened not thirty seconds later by a tap on her window.  
  
*What the hell?!* thought Rory, who didn't usually succumb to profanity. Dragging herself out of bed, she padded over to the window and drew the blinds to glare at the intruder.  
  
"Hey," said Jess through the glass. "So you really do have Loony Tunes pajamas."  
~~~~~~~~  
  
(to be continued: look forward to crappy morning talk shows, chicken soup, discussions of the ugliest band in rock and roll, and phone calls from both Paris and Michel -- plus, of course, Literati cuteness :) 


	2. Velvet Jones

Same disclaimer applies to this chapter; also, Velvet Jones belongs to Eddie Murphy/Lorne Michaels/etc.  
  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
For a moment Rory could only stare at him. He stared right back and lifted an eyebrow in question. Then she threw open the window.  
  
"How did you . . ." Rory began.  
  
"A gentleman," said Jess, "never reveals his secrets."  
  
She put a hand on her hip. "You hid in the bushes until Mom left, didn't you."  
  
Jess merely shrugged. "Are we gonna continue to have this little moment here, or will you let me in? It's kind of chilly out here."  
  
"Of course," Rory said mock-brightly, "I've forgotten my manners in all the fever and the random boys popping up outside my window."  
  
"Random?" Jess clasped a hand over his heart. "I'm insulted. And please tell me I've been the only window visitor this morning."  
  
Rory shrugged and flashed him an innocent smile. "The day's still young. Come around to the front." She'd thought about just letting him climb in the window, but that seemed subversive, somehow. As if Lorelai wouldn't be angry just so long as he wiped his feet on the mat.  
  
When she opened the door, he found her wrapped in a quilt of horrendously clashing colors.   
  
"What is that?" Rory pointed to the thermos in his hand.  
  
"Chicken soup for the Gilmore soul." Jess brandished it like a trophy. "You're lucky it was the soup of the day."  
  
"You really didn't have to do that," Rory told him, while thinking, *ugh, food*. She hadn't eaten anything since those sandwiches at the dance-a-thon. Just the thought of food was enough to . . .   
  
Jess watched Rory's face turn several shades of green and thought fleetingly that maybe the soup hadn't been such a good idea after all. She whirled around and took off, presumably for the bathroom; he set the thermos down and followed her.  
  
Rory dropped to her knees when she reached her destination and began retching into the toilet. Leaning over her, he pulled her loose hair out of her face and kept a warm, gentle pressure on the back of her neck. Though she was grateful for the help, Rory wanted nothing but solitude right then. She hated throwing up in the first place; the fact that she'd done it in front of Jess was mortifying.  
  
He helped her up and sat her down on the toilet, handing her a Dixie cup of water.  
  
"Thank you," Rory gasped, immediately following up with "I'm so sorry!"  
  
"Don't be," Jess said with a shrug as she sipped, her face crimson. "I'd have to see you puke sooner or later -- if not now, then after the Stars Hollow Burger Battle."  
  
"That's not till April," Rory said absently. Jess shot her an incredulous look, but she was staring off into space. He laid the back of his hand across her forehead, making her jump and look up at him.  
  
"You really do have a fever."  
  
"Of course I do," she snapped, irritably pushing his hand away. "You think I'd fake sick?"  
  
"Ah, for a second I forgot who I was talking to. Forgive me, holy one." He fell to the ground at her feet, doing the best exaggerated grovel that she'd ever seen (and Lorelai had come up with some whoppers). Rory laughed, suddenly aware that she was feeling a little woozy.  
  
"You shouldn't be here," she reproached him. "You're supposed to be at school, and my mom's not home, and . . . it's bad." Though she really, really enjoyed those chocolatey eyes looking at her with no other distractions nearby.  
  
Jess stood up and hauled her to her feet, slipping one of her arms around his neck. She was wobbly and he doubted she'd make it back to bed on her own. "Nice to see that illness has no effect on your verbal prowess."  
  
"Oooh, good word," said Rory with great approval.  
  
"Exactly how much of that cough syrup did you take?" Jess wanted to know.  
  
"Why?" She stumbled against him. "You think it's kicking in?" Giggling, she tried to kiss his cheek and managed to plant a smacking wet one on his shoulder. "Kicked in the butt by looooove."  
  
"Okay, no more vintage SNL for Miss Gilmore."  
  
"Who wrote the book of love? Velvet, it's as simple as that!" Rory replied, throwing her hand out and banging it against the wall. "Ow."  
  
By the time they made it to Rory's room, she was nearly gone. Jess deposited her gently on the bed and tucked the copious amounts of blankets -- he stopped counting after four and Christ, it was only *November* -- around her still body. Kneeling beside the bed, he allowed himself the luxury of a good uninterrupted gaze into her face. It was flushed, her lips were parted slightly, and a stray lock of hair trailed across her cheek. Jess was momentarily sorry for Dean, because he'd no longer be able to gaze down at her with impunity, with the intimacy of a lover or a mother.  
  
"Rory?" he whispered, touching her hand. Her fingers tightened briefly around his and she mumbled something that might have been "Love you." Of course, it also might have been "Lung foo" or even "La Louvre;" with this girl, it was best not to take anything for granted. And Jess made a quick, silent vow that he never would.  
  
He sat down in her desk chair and watched her sleep.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Author's Note: Wow, I'm so jazzed by all the responses this has gotten in such a short period of time! Thank you, guys -- I really mean that. I'm glad I was able to please :) Next up: most of what was promised in the last chapter (I'm only posting this little bit so quickly because the reviews made me so happy :)  
Author's Note 2.0: I *think* I spelled "Louvre" right . . . 


	3. Chicken Soup and Coco Chanel

(same disclaimer applies)  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
When Rory woke up for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, she found Jess in a chair at her side, thumbing through a hardback.  
  
"Cold!" She dragged several blankets back up from their position at her feet.  
  
"Yeah, that's because you kept kicking the covers off, then you'd shiver and I'd put them back on, then you'd kick them off again five minutes later. It was a vicious cycle."  
  
She looked closer at the book in his hands, identifying it as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. "You can borrow that," she offered.  
  
"No thanks," said Jess without looking up. "Not much of a Twain man."  
  
Rory wracked her brains for a suitable follow-up, preferably one of Twain's own lines, but none seemed to apply. So she settled for saying, "Boo."  
  
Jess glanced up from the book and cocked an eyebrow. "Color me chastised." He laid Twain down and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Feeling better, princess?"  
  
Rory glared feebly at him. "If you chase that with a reference to my porcelain kingdom, I will maim you with pointy objects."  
  
"Much more effective come-back.'"  
  
Sitting up, Rory yawned. She did feel better, actually. The radio was playing softly in the background, tuned to a classic rock station. As she stretched, an Allman Brothers tune segued into Zeppelin's "Black Dog."  
  
"You want something to eat?"  
  
Now that he mentioned it, she was starving. "Yes, please." She had started to summon the willpower to move from her warm nest when Jess unexpectedly leaned down and pressed his lips to her brow, letting them linger. Rory's hand went automatically to his shoulder and she moved her head up to offer a more suitable target, but he stood up and pulled out of her grasp.  
  
"Yup, fever's gone down," he said, winking at her.  
  
She stared at him, face fallen like a child denied her favorite candy, and said thickly, "You're a *tease*."  
  
"Thank you for that analysis, Pot." Rory had the grace to blush at that. "C'mon, I'll set you up on the couch and put the soup on."  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Rory could count on one hand the number of times she'd stayed home sick in the past four years. Therefore, she had rarely been in a position to ascertain the entertainment value of daytime television. After only ten minutes in front of the TV, she felt that she could safely define it as "sucky."  
  
Wrapping Lorelai's favorite quilt around her shoulders, she got up and went into the kitchen, where Jess was keeping an eye on the soup and making tea. The whole place smelled wonderful, and Rory found herself captivated by the sight of Jess's lean form next to *her* stove, in *her* kitchen. She knew now what her mother had meant by "There's a boy in my room," that night Max had stayed over. It was a weirdness that was not at all unpleasant, just . . . weird. She told herself that she was being ridiculous; Dean, after all, had been in her kitchen many times, and had even prepared food for her. But Jess had a sort of authority about him and the kitchen, like he lived there too. Maybe it was because of the diner.  
  
*Okay*, she admonished herself sternly, *too much thinking for a brain that's slept for twenty of the past twenty-six hours.*   
  
Jess cast a glance over his shoulder and said, "Hi. Bored already?"  
  
"Yeah." *Stop thinking, Rory. Don't think about the messiness. Don't think about mapping alternate routes around town so Dean will never have to see you with him. Don't think about what Mom will say when you actually go out on a date with this boy -- or God forbid, if she finds out about today. Don't think about anything at all.*  
  
So she didn't think. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her cheek on his shoulder. *Oh, perfect. This not-thinking thing is working.*  
  
Jess was surprised by the sudden display of affection, but he didn't pause his stirring. He freed one hand to grip both of the small hands clasped at his midsection.  
  
"You couldn't just put it in the microwave," Rory remarked.   
  
"Of course not. It heats more evenly this way." She snuggled closer and Jess sucked in a breath. And Lorelai called *him* dangerous. She ought to be her daughter's victim sometime . . . and that lead into a mental place that he was determined to avoid, so he focused on the soup again. "Okay, let go so I can feed you."  
  
Rory reluctantly turned him loose and sat down at the table. A bowl of beautiful soup was placed before her -- the real stuff, chock-full of fat egg noodles, chunks of chicken, and bits of carrots -- with saltines on the side. When Jess added a fragrant, steaming mug of tea, Rory actually grabbed his face and kissed him. He touched his lips as she dug into her food.  
  
"Wow," said Jess, sounding somewhat rattled. "If I'd known about *that*, I would've warmed up soup for you months ago."  
  
Rory grinned around a mouthful of noodles. "I missed you, you know," she said after she'd swallowed. She had decided to attack the issue at hand by going back as far as she could. "Over the summer and . . . and recently. I know I didn't write, or call, or give any other indication that I still remembered your name, but . . . that kiss at Sookie's wedding really confused me."  
  
"Confused *you*?" Jess was leaning back in his chair, his own meal untouched.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said in a rush. "I'm sorry -- not because I kissed you, because I wanted to and I still want to and it felt right but it shouldn't have happened right then because I was still with Dean and it was unfair to him and I never -- "  
  
"Whoa, whoa!" Jess held up a hand, looking alarmed. "Calm down. It's okay."  
  
Rory stared at him. "It . . . is?"  
  
Tilting the chair back on two legs, he considered this before answering, "Yeah. I think I'm ready to forgive. And I know I didn't exactly make it any easier for you."  
  
She smiled. "No. No, you really didn't."  
  
They were silent for a few minutes as they covered their slight embarrassment by tearing into the food.   
  
Then Rory said abruptly, "Were you sleeping with Shane?"  
  
Jess froze, his eyes locked on hers. Very slowly, the saltine he was holding dropped back to the table.  
  
*Oh shit. I decide not to think and look what pops out of my mouth. Smart, Rory.*  
  
She dropped her gaze quickly and said quietly, "I don't know why I said that, it was incredibly rude. Please ignore me."  
  
"But I want to answer it."  
  
Rory's eyes rocketed back to his. "What?" she said, shocked.  
  
"One," Jess replied softly, "and feel free to file this knowledge away for further perusing -- I am not a virgin."  
  
Her cheeks went a lovely shade of pink. "I didn't -- "  
  
"Two," he continued calmly, never breaking eye contact, "I didn't sleep with Shane. Ever."  
  
Letting go of the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Rory said meekly, "Oh." After a pause, she followed with, "Aren't you going to ask -- "  
  
"Don't need to ask you," Jess interjected. "I can tell."  
  
"You can*not* tell!" Rory said hotly. "How could you *possibly* tell?" She glanced at her reflection in the glass door of the stove. *Could* he tell?  
  
When she looked back at Jess again, he was smirking. "Even if I hadn't known -- and I did -- that would've been a dead giveaway." She threw a cracker at him and hit him square on the jaw. He took it like a man, and didn't even throw anything back. Rory was laughing a little nervously, just a tad hysterically. Because of the circumstances of her birth, the topic of sex was extremely touchy. Dean had known that, and they'd agreed to wait until they were both ready.  
  
Although she and Jess said no more on the subject as they laughed and joked and talked Faulkner, she knew he wouldn't push her either -- but she began to wonder if maybe she'd be ready a lot sooner than she had once thought.  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
While Rory was contemplating sins of the flesh with a boy condemned by her entire town, her mother was trying to find time to call home and check in.  
  
Finally Lorelai succumbed to the inevitable and asked Michel to make the call, promising that she'd be on the phone in two seconds -- just as soon as she finished discussing the bill for the new tablecloths with the Inn's supplier. Michel had known his boss long enough to have a very strong opinion on that likelihood, and it was not positive. The linen man, after all, was cute.  
  
Jess and Rory had camped out on the sofa, he sitting and she curled up with her feet in his lap. They'd agreed upon an "All in the Family" on TVLand, but Rory had fallen back to sleep halfway through the episode and Jess had switched to "Jerry Springer."  
  
The phone rang and Jess, accustomed to answering it automatically, reached for the receiver. Luckily it woke Rory up and her hand shot out to stop him. Jumping guiltily into a sitting position, she sat and looked at him for a few minutes, letting the ringing continue. Jess fiddled with the remote while she tried to decide whether or not to answer.  
  
Michel had just decided to hang up when Rory caved in and said "Hello?" in a breathless voice. Jess muted the TV for her and stood up, glancing around the room to see if there was anything entertaining in sight.  
  
"Your muzzah was very eensistant that I coll," Michel told her, sounding like Lorelai had asked him to run a 5K marathon.  
  
Rory perked up immediately. Oh, if only she didn't have to talk to her mother! "Where is she?"  
  
"'Ow should I know? Ze last time I saw hur, she was heeting on a bristly man in flan-el. She jost wanted me to coll and check on you. You are steel uhlive, yees?"  
  
"Um," said Rory, "yeah. Actually I'm feeling a lot better."  
  
"Good, parhaps now Lorelai will seve my flogging for anuzzah dey," he said, voice dripping sarcasm. Rory grinned. She was much too used to Michel's temperament to be offended by his apparent lack of concern.   
  
Jess, meanwhile, had dug into the coat closet and dug out a green feather boa, the knit golfing hat from Richard, and a pink wool peacoat that Lorelai had bought at a flea market two years ago. Donning all three of the items, he strutted across the room, clacking imaginary high heels and puffing on an French cigarette (in actuality, part of a broken clothes hanger). She threw a pillow at him, causing him to look exceedingly offended and begin gesticulating wildly at her with the 'cigarette.'   
  
Covering the mouthpiece with one hand, she hissed, "Save it, Coco! I could get into real trouble here!"  
  
Abandoning his toys, Jess came to sit beside her. Waggling his eyebrows up and down, he started to stroke her knee like it was a fine angora sweater. Rory smacked him and tried to hold in the bubbling laughter.  
  
"Rhory? Are you steel there?"  
  
"Yes, Michel," she gasped, "I'm still here."  
  
"Probably," Michel continued, "she will wont to coll you ageen latur. Her roy-el self, zees time, one 'opes."  
  
Rory sat up straight. "No!" Lowering her voice, she amended, "Um, I mean, I'll probably be going back to sleep soon, for the rest of the day, you know -- tired, I'm really tired. The whole lying around watching TV has gotten to me."  
  
She could almost see his eyes roll as he responded, "What-evair."  
  
"Tell her I'll be asleep! Tell her there's no need to call again!" Concealing the truth from Michel was one thing; lying to Lorelai directly, with Jess there, was quite another.  
  
"All right, dun't shout at me!"  
  
"Sorry. Goodbye, Michel. Thanks for calling."  
  
"Goodbye, Rhory," said Michel with grudging affection.  
  
She put the phone down with a great sigh of relief. Jess was leaning against the back of the couch, very close, his head resting on one hand. "You," he accused her, "are turning into a regular badass."  
  
Rory pouted. "I am not."  
  
"Don't be upset. It's cute." With that, he kissed her. Slow and deep and burning, it was much better than all the short frustrated exchanges of the day. When they came up for air, Rory fanned herself with the discarded hat.  
  
"Woooo. There goes that damned fever again."  
  
"Now that is something a guy likes to hear."  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Once again, thanks so much for all the great reviews! I'm having such fun writing this fic, thanks in part to you guys :)  
Oh, and I know the end of this chapter is a little abrupt. But there's more coming up!  
Sidenote: my God, last night's episode was FANTASTIC! Alexis and Milo had amazing chemistry together ::dies from the cuteness::   
So I guess this is technically a slight AU now . . . 


End file.
